Review on 🎙️ Panasonic RR-QR120: Advanced IC Digital Voice Recorder for Crystal Clear Recordings by Andrew Vogel

I spontaneously bought a Panasonic RR-QR120 in the Office Max offer for ($$$). I used to do some research on digital recorders and was actually thinking of the Sony DW-90. Depending on your needs, this might be the best choice if, for example, you need to record a lecture and then upload it. For short shots, however, this is completely sufficient. I work as an airport police officer and have carried a microcassette recorder with me for several years. They work quite well, but I wanted to see how a digital recorder would work. I used this recorder in the noisy environment of an airport terminal to record some human interactions and was pleasantly surprised. The quality of the recording was the same or even better than the microcassette recordings we make. Carrying it in my shirt pocket allowed me to record conversations with very good clarity. I also connected an external microphone to the unit and recorded some more. Very good results in standard game mode. High quality, crystal clear. However, in LP mode, the quality is so poor that it is almost impossible to use it in almost all applications. You can dictate to the device in LP mode, but even then the sound quality is poor and distorted. Go to SP or HQ and you will get great results. The recording time is not as long as I would choose if I had done more research. The advertising on the packaging states the recording time of 105 minutes (in worthless LP mode) in large letters. There is no way you can record a great lecture or business meeting in this mode - you just won't be able to understand the playback. So it's a very good recorder if your needs don't exceed the 33 +/- minutes provided in SP mode. It's around 17 minutes in HQ mode. The controls work well and are logically structured. The device is very light and small, easily fitting in a shirt pocket. It has voice-activated recording to save your limited time, and many other features I haven't played with (such as timed recording and playback). It uses 2 AAA batteries - I don't know how long they will last as I've only had the device for a very short time. However, I expect a fairly good battery life. I copied some of the HQ and SQ recordings to microcassette simply by placing the speaker from a Panasonic recorder next to my microcassette player's microphone. This produced a surprisingly good quality recording and would suffice if you needed to permanently archive the recording for later use. So if you just need to make short recordings and need something light and simple, this little recorder should do the trick. If you need more recording time or want to archive your recordings, use something like the Sony DW-90.